Any good book to accompany Figure Drawing Fundamentals?
9mo
Yury
I plan to start this course around January. Can you recommend any good books to accompany the course? Does it make sense to use Figure Drawing from Loomis? or maybe "force: Dynamic Life Drawing" from?
What was your experience?
For instance Stan recommends following books in his list. See the image for the books I am thinking about. (full list: https://www.proko.com/books). I have no idea what is the order that I should go over them, how relevant they are when I just start and so on.
8mo
I want to do animation so I really like the Drawn to Life books by Walth Stanchfield (edited by Don Hahn). I've only come halfway through the first book, but I'm learning a ton about gesture drawing and storytelling.
I've seen you post some work for the Drawing Basics course, which is great! I encourage you to keep taking it👍 It will strengthen your figure drawings too.
Yury
8mo
Thank you! I heard good things about the Drawn to Life books. I guess, it is time to check them out.
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If you don't mind something written in Japanese, 人体の描き方マスターガイド 基礎から学ぶキャラクターデッサン (by 肖瑋春), which translates to something like: Master Guide to Methods of Drawing the Body -- Foundation Learning in Character Design. This book covers basic forms used in figure construction in a way I like better than a lot of other books.
9mo
The only one I haven't read here is Steve Hudson's book, although I'm familiar with his work and would love to check that one out. Out of the rest, I think Michael Hampton's book is the best place to start. He does the best job of hammering home the importance of using simple forms as building blocks.
9mo
For figure drawing I would say Steve Houston is good for beginners then Andrew Loomis.
9mo
Thank you. Can you suggest, if it is possible to work through his book? Does it have exercises? I am very bad at just reading and copying images from such books. I need exercises or assigments, and also measure of success for such exercises to understand how well I am doing, etc...
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9mo
Books! Love Books!
And Loomis books are the best. I have them all in one form or another. The problem with Loomis is he’s very advanced. Except for my favorite Loomis book: Fun With A Pencil. While his other books are deceptively difficult, Fun With A Pencil is deceptively wonderful! It is an intro to heads (loose, gestural strokes and building forms), bodies (gesture & manikin forms), and then perspective, light & shadows! And it’s really great Fun!
My second favorite Loomis book is Figure Drawing for All It’s Worth. But in the beginning, you’ll want this mostly as a reference book. It’s… a lot.
I bought Steve Huston’s book. I read the entire thing. I found it a total waste of money and time. Proko likes it, so maybe I missed something. I’ve already given my copy away.
Vilppu’s Drawing Manual is also considered genius among some. Maybe it’s a good workbook if Vilppu is your instructor. I found Proko’s lesson on The Bean more useful. This is another book I’ve given away.
You’re probably going to hear about Bridgman’s Life Drawing. I love looking at his work and have drawn along with his book a whole bunch. I’m not sure how instructional it was, to be honest, but it was darn good fun.
Oh, and Burne Hogarth’s Dynamic Figure Drawing. Yeah, like Bridgman, it’s good fun. The thing I learned from this book is, “I will never draw like Burne Hogarth.”
So, the best book for figure drawing? Brace yourself. It’s not what you think. Ready? Ok. “How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way,” by Stan Lee & John Buscema. John Buscema! Master comic book artist and a great teacher! This book has it all (and a whole bunch of traditional comic stuff you won’t need). There’s heads, gesture, manikin forms, composition, perspective, basic forms, and on and on. I’ve had my copy forever and still use it today.
In fact, if you can find Buscema comics (his Conan is killer!) then you’ve got a manual right there. Come to think of it, comics are a great source of gestural figure drawing. They used to be a cheap way to learn (I was upset when the price went up to 25¢).
Um… so… yeah. You got me all excited. I'm going somewhere to rest now.
9mo
I should have mentioned that drawing the little heads like Loomis does in Fun With A Pencil reminds me of drawing Proko Mario Mushrooms. Great fun getting out a large newsprint pad and a charcoal pencil and just letting loose drawing big circles from the shoulder.
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9mo
haha, i love meeting a fellow book lover! My collection consists of many of these as well, but as far as stuff that would be helpful for the course "figure drawing", I think it depends on your level of ability, what courses or instructors you've had in the past as well as your general learning style. Things like "Human Anatomy for Artists" by Eliot Goldfinger are a drag for me, but EXCELLENT as references for detailed anatomy and descriptions of how these forms meet (I like his diagrams a lot). Anatomy will be important, but it's like a rabbit hole, you can always go deeper. Start off with things that won't overwhelm you. I like Anatomy for Sculptors, Vilppu's drawing manual, and if you are more advanced, something like Patrick J Jones: Anatomy of Style or Drawing from Photographs.
Personally, the Bridgeman books are great for understanding the basic concepts, but as Jeff Watts points out, they are a bit messy to study from, I think they are wonderful for understanding gesture and weight, but as far as getting a foundation, I would stray closer to Loomis. I agree completely that Loomis can feel a little ovewhelming, but the writing is SO GOOD! He definitely kept me turning the pages. I loved Figure Drawing for All It's Worth. It is a good beginner book that can be referenced later as an intermediate artist as well!
I agree that I enjoyed: How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way, but to me it wasn't the perfect resource for me, it lacked the structure of what I wanted foundationally.
My favorite book out of all of these would be Vilppu's Drawing Manual. He goes over simple shapes, line work, value, and form and does it approachably and concisely.
Hope this helps!!! Good luck on your journey and definitely happy to talk books more anytime! (Both of you! :)
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9mo
I've been reading 'Figure Drawing' by Jake Spicer. I would recommend it. Here's a good breakdown of the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxzaBJYDZQc
